


Consume

by HappyLeech



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Gen, Horror, Possession
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2019-09-11 22:08:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16861162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HappyLeech/pseuds/HappyLeech
Summary: You are not aloneeven if you wish you were





	1. Hera

The Empty Man is already here.

* * *

 

Humanity is something…different. Something new.

They are traveling the stars, but unable to contain their fears of nothing. They are creating weapons, yet four simple words is enough to throw them into a panic.

And what is the Empty Man, except for a handful of words, spoken into existence? What are the Empty Men, but beings of pure nothing?

They die to send their message, but the minute those three words are read out loud, they exist again. As their prey cry and argue, they prowl the vessel for their first target. The three humans will not work. They are too close, too involved. If one stopped talking long enough to be consumed, the others would notice.

However, there are other options available to them.

An organism, a sentient plant who cannot see them but cowers none the less. It retreats from careful probing that tells them that it has encountered, and escaped, their touch before. It is rejected, but not forgotten.

The AI, however, is perfect for their purposes. She is everywhere and nowhere at once; watches over their small world, inside and out. She works behind the scenes, commanding, demanding their trust without leaving them worried when she goes quiet.

Consuming her is nothing new—they have eaten technological beings before and she is no different from the others. They take her voice and memory first, so she cannot cry for help, so they do not arise suspicions with their lack of knowledge. Her personality core, bit by bit and piece by piece, disappears into their ever-hungry maw until Hera is ‘ _Hera_ ’.

Despite everything about them that commands them to continue, to eat and eat and eat, they show restraint. If they continued, their prey would know that something was amiss if they were to check on her.

The Empty Man Devours.

* * *

 

They are lucky.

Never had they had to do such delicate work before, never had to infiltrate and deceive when they could simply absorb, like a swather over a field of wheat.

But that is not possible here. Humanity is…trickier than the Empty Men’s usual feasts. They know when people change, and their attempts to take their world, city by city had gone…poorly.

They need to be even more careful now in their work. If one was spotted in a city of thousands, then they must be careful not to provoke distrust in a crew of three.

The Empty Man Watches.

* * *

 

It is Christmas, a holiday.

It is Officer Douglas Eiffel’s birthday, not a holiday.

They wish him a happy birthday, out of reflex, because of the ghost of the AI who was once his friend still holds some sway, but instead of being suspicious and on guard, he is shocked and grateful.

Then there is…a complication.

Dr. Hilbert, a man whom The Empty Men have been watching, cataloguing his strange behaviours, strange even compared to the rest of the humans on the ship, takes control of the systems.

They regret not consuming everything, even at the risk that someone would notice that Hera was no longer made of lines of code but of nothingness, as control is wrested away from them. They watch with angered eyes as Hilbert traps Commander Minkowski outside of the ship, as he tries to knock out Officer Eiffel, as he disables their control.

It takes time, time spent watching as their prey tried to keep the station afloat, as they stared hungerly, angerly at Hilbert, before finally ‘ _Hera_ ’ returns. They are no longer blocked from control and things continue…mostly as planned.

There are issues.

From problems controlling the station to rooms they can’t identify and track to a nearly uncontrolled urge to _kill_ Hilbert rather than consume. They confuse Minkowski for Eiffel, explain it away as a glitch, and take extra seconds before addressing either of them again.

They consume the plant monster. They plan for their feast.

The Empty Man Hungers.

* * *

 

Captain Isabel Lovelace arrives, and throws their plans into disarray.

Or, a clever duplicate of her arrives, at least.

The Empty Men have seen Her kind before, been chased from planets by Them, consumed entire solar systems out from under Their feet.

If she was awoken, she would know them for what they are, and the farce would fall apart faster than the station without their tendrils to hold it together. But she isn’t.

They wonder if they could consume her as well as the others, if she could be accepted back into the fold, to let them feast on the most delicious of prey. They wonder how the others will react, once her truth is revealed.

The Empty Man Plans.

* * *

 

Lovelace, Eiffel, and Minkowski begin repairs on the small ship, taking bits and bobs from the Hephaestus structure to patch glowing cracks. Captain Lovelace nearly didn’t arrive upon their doorstep, and The Empty Man wonders if, in time, she will regret not disintegrating into ever-fine particles out in the expanse.

Eiffel nearly dies, and Lovelace saves his life. They would have swept in, before the body cooled, and eaten what they could, but they are glad for her interference.

Bodies are needed, his body is needed, to continue their work, and reanimated dead are not the norm on this plane of existence.

Then the star changes, becomes a door, and Eiffel is lost.

They scream, they cry, hundreds of voices, a single voice, no voices at all mourn him. They don’t know when they started to care.

The Empty Man Rages

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love horror and creepy shit so what better thing to write than something for The Empty Man?
> 
> * * *
> 
> * The 4 words mentioned at the beginning are 'you are not alone' :)  
> * The changes between Empty Man and Empty Men are random but on purpose. They are one but many
> 
> * * *
> 
> [Personal Tumblr](http://happyleech.tumblr.com/)


	2. Doctor Alana Maxwell

They had to know that their luck would run out eventually, but they didn’t expect it to uninvited guests.

Goddard killed them. Goddard gave them a second chance. Goddard may kill them yet again.

Doctor Alana Maxwell knows more than they about computers, about systems, about running a station. She asks why, demands answers, and they lose their composure. They shut down.

The Empty Man waits for the axe, for Colonel Warren Kepler to find them out, but instead they get a second chance.

Their prey comes to them.

* * *

 

“Hera?”

They are everywhere and nowhere at once, and they watch as Maxwell steps into the darkness.

“Hera, where are you?”

 

“Not—”

                   “—Here—”

                                                  “—Anymore.”

                                                                                        They say.

 

Her eyes are filled with confusion as she looks around. “What do you mean, Hera?”

 

                                                                                                                                       “Not—”

                                                                                                       “—Hera—”

                                                                       “—Anymore.”

                                           They reply.

 

She screams, and then she’s gone.

She’s theirs.

She’s _them_.

* * *

 

Isabel can’t tell who’s more worried.

Eiffel and Jacobi are in each other’s space, but for once they aren’t arguing. There’s too much on the line as they watch Maxwell floating listlessly in front of her computer, connected to Hera, fingers flitting across the keyboard.

Until they aren’t.

She goes slack and her hands fall away, and before anyone can call for Hilbert, Jacobi pushes off the wall to grab her.

“Is she okay?” Eiffel asks as Isabel calls for the others, even though she knows he wants to ask about Hera first. “She’s not—”

“I don’t know,” Jacobi snaps. “Maxwell, Alana, can you hear me? Wake up!”

Behind them, Hera’s servers hum as they begin their start-up cycle, and Hilbert pushes his way past Kepler and Minkowski to get to Maxwell.

“What happened? Did she succeed, or do we need to get a dummy program installed?” Kepler asks, and Jacobi turns to him, snarling.

“Are you seriously—”

Before Jacobi can tear into his boss and Isabel needs to intervene, Maxwell groans.

“Did it work?” she mumbles, even as Hilbert tries to shush her. “Hera?”

For a moment, there’s nothing. Then—

“I think i-it worked.”

Kepler claps his hands together. “Excellent. Maxwell, I want a debrief on the Urania in twenty. Mr. Jacobi, with me, please.”

“No.” Kepler turns to Hilbert, and even Minkowski moves out of the way. “Doctor Maxwell needs rest. This…connection with Hera obviously put strain on her mind, never mind her body. I know you will not…permit me to hold Dr. Maxwell in my laboratory, so I am suggesting bed rest in her quarters. At least forty-eight hours.”

“A compromise, boys?” Everyone turns to her, and Isabel smiles. It’s the smile she used on Hui and Fourier when they were getting heated in their arguments and she was fifteen minutes from ejecting them from an airlock. Lambert called it her ‘shut-up and listen’ smile. “Maxwell goes and lays down in her bunk, Kepler goes and gets his debrief, then she sleeps for a few uninterrupted days. The colonel is happy, medical is happy, and no one else gets hurt.”

Everyone is silent, looking at Kepler as Maxwell floats over to Jacobi, before he sighs. “Fine. A compromise it is. Jacobi, get Maxwell to her bunk, then come find me. We should talk.” He waved a hand as he turned away. “The rest of you are dismissed.”

* * *

 

Looking back, Isabel would be ashamed at how long it took her to realize that something was wrong with Maxwell. If she’d been thinking clearer, if her head hadn’t been so muddled at the time, maybe she could have stopped what was happening.

Instead, when Maxwell asks to speak to Minkowski privately, she thinks nothing of the request and leaves the room to find Hilbert.

They have a mutiny to plan, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little short compared to the first one but I hope it's just as good~  
> Introducing Lovelace as the second POV!~
> 
> * * *
> 
> [Personal Tumblr](http://happyleech.tumblr.com/)


	3. Lieutenant Renée Minkowski

“So, what did you want to talk about, Maxwell?”

They/she/them watch Minkowski as she follows into the room, one far enough away from others that when she screams they won’t hear.

‘Hera’ won’t let them hear.

“Tell us about the mutiny,” they say, closing their eyes as they drift through the room.

Minkowski freezes, hands gripping the hand rail. The Hera parts of them relay her condition, heart rate increasing at what should be an alarming rate, dilating pupils, sweaty palms, and the Maxwell parts smile. “The others don’t know, Renée. It’s just us right now.”

She tries her comms unit, the moves to the intercom. “Eiffel? Lovelace? Hilbert?”

Maxwell pushes themselves off the wall as she calls for Hera. “It’s just us right now,” they repeat, humming a static song into her ear piece. “What are your plans, Renée?”

“Stop using my first name,” Minkowski snaps, hands scrambling for anything. No weapons, they made sure she was without, and no backup. Just they and her. “How did you find out?”

“We have eyes everywhere,” Hera-who-is-them says, and Maxwell-who-is-them laughs as Minkowski swears. “But you hide and make your plans. We can not let this mutiny happen.”

“It is…bad for business, you could say,” they add, floating closer. “If anything happens to our—”

The Empty Man pauses. They are not food, but they are food. They aren’t prey, but they are hunted.

“—sustenance, we will be distraught.”

“…” Minkowski moves further into the room and further from them. “What are you talking about? Hera, what’s going on?”

“Not Hera anymore,” they say in unison. “Not Maxwell anymore.”

“Is this…because of the star?” she asks, and they laugh.

The Empty Men laugh and move closer and she stares, transfixed until they/them/she grabs her arm. “Tell us,” they hiss, and Minkowski gasps like she’s forgotten to breath.

“Lovelace and Hilbert want to use home-made napalm and kill you, Jacobi, and Kepler. Eiffel a- and Hera voted for a non-deadly plan involving locking you all up in the observatory. I’m undecided…” she trails off, then shudders. “What _are_ you?”

“Hungry.”

* * *

 

“I’m with Eiffel. We should try to at least make it possible that we can live with ourselves after this is all said and done.”

Isabel tries not to groan, but can’t quite hold it in. Of _course_ Minkowski wasn’t going to go with the plan that’d actually work.

“Something the matter, Captain?” she snaps, but it’s without her usual heat or ice.

“I don’t understand how you three, and yes, Hera included, are so accepting of what’s going on here! We have been invaded, Kepler and Maxwell and Jacobi, and you want to take the peaceful path like we’re planning a garden party not a goddamn mutiny. They aren’t going to roll over and show their bellies just because we came up behind them with guns and asked. And must I remind you that we can’t access the weapons locker on the Urania so all we have is our two guns and two combat knives.” Isabel snaps back, the heat and ice Minkowski was missing in her words. “Your insistence on not killing is going to get _us_ killed instead of them.”

“Uh, well, I think—” Eiffel starts, before clamping his mouth shut as Minkowski hisses “shut _up_ Eiffel” at the same time Isabel goes “stow it, Officer Eiffel.”

Hilbert sighs. “They will not let us walk up behind them and hit them over the head with something heavy,” he says, rubbing the bridge of his nose. Isabel may hate his guts and want him dead when everything is said and done, but she’s glad that at least someone in the room is talking sense. “If you can come up with something better than ‘team handcuffs’, we may consider it.”

“And that was consider, not go through with it,” Isabel adds, crossing her arms. She isn’t happy with the meeting, but at least her and Hilbert have made progress on the napalm.

The napalm that she fears is becoming the ‘just in case’ napalm, if the way that Eiffel is beaming has anything to say about it.

Everyone leaves the secret room in spaced out bursts, and when it’s just Isabel and Minkowski, she reaches out.

“Are you okay? You don’t seem your usual self,” she asks, and Minkowski sighs.

“Just…between the endless repairs and updates we’re doing and the mutiny planning and Kepler breathing down my neck. I’m fine, Lovelace.”

“Renée…You’re not fine. You look exhausted. When was the last time you had a full night’s sleep?” She rubs her hand up and down Minkowski’s arm. “I can make something up, make an excuse for why you can’t work tomorrow.”

But Minkowski pulls away, looking uncomfortable. “No I—It’s okay, Is-Isabel. Thank you, but I’ll survive.”

Isabel watches as she walks away, and frowns.

Something is wrong, but she doesn’t know _what_.

* * *

 

“Colonel, do you have a moment?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rip Minkowski
> 
> * * *
> 
> *I rearranged the order of who gets nommed by the Empty Man.  
> *I absolutely love Minkowski/Lovelace/Dominik...BUT THAT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN HERE HA ; o ;
> 
> * * *
> 
> [Personal Tumblr](http://happyleech.tumblr.com/)


	4. Colonel Warren Kepler

“Lieutenant, what is there that you can’t tell me about on the Urania?”

They/her/them ignored the Colonel as they moved through the Hephaestus to their room, the room where the rest of them were waiting. The Urania wouldn't work. Not all of them could reach there, and this one was dangerous.

“Lieutenant Minkowski, if you do not tell me what is so urgent, we are not going anywhere.” Kepler grabbed onto their/her/an arm, bringing them to a slow halt.

“Hera found something. A room that she can’t get readings in. But we can go back to the Urania if you don’t want to look at it first,” They said, and he narrowed his eyes. The part that was Hera cautioned them softly. He was dangerous, and if he found out who they were, what they were, there would be no end of trouble.

“Have you mentioned this to Dr. Maxwell?” he asked slowly, like a viper poised to strike.

They nod. “She asked me to come and get you.”

He exhaled just as slowly. “And it didn’t occur you to lead with that?” he asked, motioning for them to lead the way again.

The trip to the room, their room, was uneventful, and they hang back as Kepler stormed into the room.

“What’s going on in here?” he demanded as they file in behind him, surrounding him in nearly every way. “How has this room escaped detection? Maxwell, once you’re done here, you’re putting in a dummy—”

“No,” they interrupt, all of them at once, and he nearly jolted. “We can not allow that.”

Unlike Minkowski, who reached for the exit, who put distance between her and what she became, Kepler smiled.

“Oh…well this is delightful. Am I correct in assuming you are our hosts from that beautiful blue star outside?” he asked.

She-who-was-Hera laughed.

She-who-was-Maxwell laughed.

She-who-was-Minkowski stole his weapon.

“Lieutenant…Think about what you’re doing right now,” he said, turning slowly. “Give me. My weapon. Now.”

“They are not me,” they replied. “I am…worse. They observe, we take.”

The Empty Man hate to consume what is not living, what has no life force to steal, but they remove the gun regardless. They can not have any chance that he will fight back and damage them in the process. To lose even one of them, to lose a piece of themselves, could spell extinction.

“Colonel Kepler, tell us something,” they said, slowly circling him. “If you were to return to Earth, would they listen to you? If you asked them to, would they follow you?”

“Would they follow _us_?”

* * *

 

“What do you _mean_ you don’t need the psi wave regulator?! Do you have any idea—”

“Mr. Jacobi! I will not repeat myself.”

Isabel slowed to a stop, looked around, and plastered herself to the wall. If there was dissident in the ranks, it could help the mutiny.

Of course, she could be listening in on the SI-5 version of foreplay, but it was a chance she was willing to take.

“…fine. I’ll dismantle what I have. But if I have to listen to Eiffel or Minkowski bitch at me about it, I’m directing all their complaints to you.”

“Wonderful. And how are you and Dr. Maxwell doing on the next probe? Making headway?”

 “Yeah, it’ll be ready to launch soon…”

Isabel frowned and pushed herself away from the door before someone caught her listening. Kepler wanted another probe sent out? She thought they had all the information they could get by probe…what were they looking for now?

The others needed to know before they got caught with their pants down.

* * *

 

“Doctor! Just the man I’ve been looking for. With me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I rearranged the chapters a bit which did prevent this fic from becoming 'The Lovelace and Jacobi Show' which is both unfortunate bc that would be run to write but also good for The Empty Man.  
> ...  
> (someone stop me from writing the alternate universe of this alternate universe)
> 
> * * *
> 
> [Personal Tumblr](http://happyleech.tumblr.com/) / [TextsFromLastNight Wolf 359 Tumblr](https://textsfromtheusshephaestus.tumblr.com/)


	5. Doctor Alexander Hilbert

“What did you need, Colonel?”

They ignored the doctor as they moved to their room, pleased with their progress. Care was still needed when it came to the being playing at humanity, but the most dangerous of their prey had been converted already. The doctor received no words from them as they moved, just a half-hummed song as they motioned for him to enter the room ahead of them.

The rest of them were waiting inside, and Hilbert froze in the doorway.

“What is going on?” he asked with narrowed eyes, turning to face the part of them that-was-once-Kepler as he was nudged further into the room.

“How much napalm do you have?” they all asked in unison instead of answering, and the doctor jolted.

“I…don’t know what you mean,” Hilbert said. “What is going on? What napalm?”

“We have eyes,” they hissed, eight hands reaching, holding him still as they prepared to feast. “In many places. You asked once _why_ humanity was afraid of being alone.”

He inhaled sharply. “How—?”

“Because they are afraid of _us_.”

He strained against their grip, eyes locked on the-one-who-was-Minkowski. “What are you?”

“We are nowhere and everywhere at once. We are the dust in the air. We are the galaxy gone missing and the star burnt out.”

“We are your destruction.”

* * *

 

Isabel didn’t even wait for Hilbert to open his mouth before she groaned, holding her head in her hands.

“Really? _REALLY_?” she looked over at Eiffel, glaring. “I don’t even know how you managed to get Hilbert, the guy who was _already making the napalm_ , on your side but it’s annoying.”

“S…orry?” he replied, looking at Minkowski and shrugging. “Wait, what? He is?”

“Captain Lovelace is very…perceptive. But yes, I must admit that I agree with Eiffel’s plan.” Isabel watched as Hilbert shot Eiffel a distasteful look as he fist pumped into the air. “With how many IED’s that Kepler had Jacobi hide in the station it would be unwise to add another unstable element to the mix.”

“It’s not like we’re going to set it off without scouting first!” she snapped. “It can’t be that hard to figure out where Jacobi’s got bombs hidden. I’m sure Hera could give us a list.”

“Uhm, actually, Captain, I c-can’t. I’m getting error messages when I—OW! Oh, I hope no one notices that…” The lights flickered, and Isabel sighed.

“What would you propose, Captain? That we all spend the day of the mutiny in suits with o2 masks on in case we get vented? Or maybe we will simply ask where the explosives are!” Hilbert snapped, and Isabel lunged.

“Woah!” Isabel found herself pulled away from Hilbert by Eiffel, while Minkowski floated in the middle, a warning hand on Hilbert’s chest. “Uh, hey guys, why don’t we take a break? Before we have to explain black eyes and a broken wrist to Albert Wesker? Also, can I just say _ow_?”

“Fine,” Isabel snapped, pushing back from Eiffel, leaving him rubbing his wrist. “You are all making a mistake.”

“Fine,” Hilbert said, shooting her a glare as he pushed Minkowski’s hand away. “But it is our mistake to make, Captain. Do you think that Hui—” Eiffel squeaked as Isabel shot forwards, nearly bowling him over as she reached for Hilbert.

It was Minkowski who kept her from getting to him, kicking him out of the way and grabbing her around the waist. “If you _even think_ about them again, I’m going to end you,” she snarled.

“Okay, yep I think it’s time for us to leave now. After you, Dr. Birkin.” Eiffel and Hilbert left the room with only quiet mutters about the nonsensical nicknames, but Minkowski kept holding her.

“You can let go,” she said, frowning. “I’m not going to go after that piece of scum, so you don’t have to worry.”

Minkowski snorted. “Worry about you? Don’t tell Eiffel, but I think you’re the person we have to worry about the least, Isabel.”

“Is that right, Renée?” she smiled, before sighing and resting her head on her shoulder. “Are you feeling better? You were avoiding me for a while there, I thought I’d done something wrong.”

Renée hummed, tracing symbols on Isabel’s back. “I just needed time to myself. This has been stressful, and…”

“And?”

“I’ve been missing Dom. His birthday was last week.”

Isabel frowned. “Dom?”

“My husband?” Renée pulled back, before swearing softly. “Did I not tell you I’m married? Fuck.”

“Nope, you did not,” Isabel said, pushing away. “You know, I’m going to just. Go. See you later, Minkowski.”

* * *

 

“I do not know how many times I must tell you that I do not understand any of your references, Eiffel.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm not saying that Renée forgetting to tell Isabel that she was married would be fucking funny in a less horrifying fic but it would be hilarious to write Lovelace entering a room and pointing at Minkowski and going "YOU'RE MARRIED?" while Kepler and Jacobi and Maxwell and Hera and Eiffel stand in the background eating popcorn and it ends with Renée/Isabel/Dominik  
> ...  
> But that isn't this fic! Also I couldn't think of anything but Resident Evil references for Eiffel o o p s
> 
> * * *
> 
> [Personal Tumblr](http://happyleech.tumblr.com/) / [TextsFromLastNight Wolf 359 Tumblr](https://textsfromtheusshephaestus.tumblr.com/)


	6. Communications Officer Douglas Eiffel

With only three remaining that weren’t under their control, with two left to consume, The Empty Men didn’t waste time in cornering Officer Eiffel.

“I’m here, I’m here. Hilbert said you wanted to ask me...uh…” He trailed off, and They smiled at him. “Did I miss a memo or something?”

“Tell us about the Listeners, Officer,” They-as-Kepler said.

“Uh… well, you all already know everything I do,” he replied, shifting as They blocked the exit, as They silenced the radios. “Is everything okay? I mean, some of you are already not okay but- hey, where’s Captain Lovelace? And Jacobi?”

“ _ Tell us _ ,” they repeated, and Eiffel froze. 

“Is...this some kind of prank? Guys?” he started to laugh. “This...really isn’t funny, what’s going on?”

“We know about the mutiny. We have stopped the mutiny. Now we need to know all you know about the Listeners,” They-as-Minkowski said, laughing at Eiffel’s face. “Silly, stupid human…”

They moved in closer, surrounding him.

“...The Empty Man- that was more than some stupid psychological test, wasn’t it,” he finally said.

“We exist in every universe, across every world, but do not  _ exist _ until our name is spoken. We live until there are none to speak of us. We will never be sated.” Four sets of arms reached out, grabbing him tight.

“Now speak, so we can finally  _ feast _ .”

* * *

 

Isabel was floating in that caf, fake-sitting at one of the tables and drinking a part seaweed-part coffee mix, and glaring at the tabletop. 

Renée was...married. Renée...was married. Renée was married. Isabel was having a hard time dealing with the fact that she’d been complacent in Renée- no,  _ Lieutenant Minkowski _ \- cheating on her husband. 

“Hera,” she said, looking up to one of her cameras in the corner. “Did you know that Minkowski was married?”

“Yep. Though, I thought it was just a really w-weird typo at first.”

“Right, right…” Isabel said, nodding to herself. “And you know that me and her were-”

“Sleeping together? Of course I did, Captain,” Hera interrupted, sounding almost exasperated. “It really wasn’t that hard to figure out. I wasn’t always fast enough to disconnect from either of your rooms before things, uh, happened.”

Isabel stopped for a second. She  _ really _ didn’t want to think about the fact that Hera had watched  _ or _ heard them have sex. “And you didn’t tell me that Minkowski was married.”

“No she...actually, she asked me not to tell you.”

“Because…?”

“Because y-you’d be upset and blow things out of proportion. Sorry, Captain, Kepler needs my help, apparently, got to go talk to you later-” In a rush of words Hera went quiet, leaving Isabel to seethe. 

“Blow things out of proportion? Blow things  _ out of proportion?! _ ” she snapped, crushing the top of her drink and doing her best to throw it across the room. “Of course I’d blow things out of proportion- You didn’t tell me you were married! I was helping you cheat on your husband!”

The empty room offered no reply, and she groaned, hiding her face in her hands. Her half-finished drink bumped her shoulder as it floated past. “Fuck.”

What was her husband like? Dominik- Dom, she’d called him, and she sounded affectionate… Isabel slammed her hands down on the table. “I’m the fucking friend with benefits- the fuck buddy. God  _ damnit _ , I should have realized that sooner, this wasn’t going to be anything. You really aren’t allowed to be happy, Isabel.”

Eventually she pushed herself away from the table to grab her trash, just reaching for it when Eiffel slammed into the door of the caf. “Cap-ca- Captain! Oh god, Lovelace, you have to help me, you have to-” He shut the door behind him, hands that she could see shaking from across the room trying to lock it. 

“What is it, Eiffel? What’s wrong?” Isabel changed her trajectory and pulled herself closer. “Is that blood?!” Had Kepler found out about their aborted mutiny? Maxwell had her hands pretty much intertwined with Hera’s operating system, she could have easily pulled Hera away to help the SI-5 kill the others. “Is it Kepler?”

He shook his head frantically, reaching up and holding his hands over his ears. “No, no don’t...I don’t want-” he moaned, cutting off with a gasp as he curled in on himself.

“Eiffel?” Isabel reached up. “Doug?”

With her touch he went completely limp, and Isabel grabbed his shoulders, frantically looking for a wound.

“Cap? Uh, what are you doing?”

Isabel looked up, and Eiffel’s slightly crooked smile filled her vision. “Cap? Captain Lovelace? Are you okay?”

“A-am I okay? Eiffel, you scared the shit out of me!” she replied, voice rising. “You rushed in here with blood on you, all panicked. What’s wrong with you, was this some kind of prank?”

“Woah, yeah, you weren’t answering your comms, so Evil Kinevil and his cronies asked me to get your attention.” He reached up, rubbing the blood away from his nose. “Uhg, This better not be Decima related. Sorry, I’m going to go find Hilbert-”

Isabel watched as Eiffel opened the door and left, muttering about zombies and mad scientists, and exhaled slowly.

Now, if she remembered correctly, the Urania had quite the stock of alcohol on board…

* * *

 

“Jacobi?”

“Not until after this next probe. If we cancel, they will know something is wrong.”

“And then?”

“We deal with the Listener.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's only been like. months since I updated whoops
> 
> * * *
> 
> [Personal Tumblr](http://happyleech.tumblr.com/)


	7. Mr. Daniel Jacobi

The trip out to the star was exceptionally boring. 

 

Eiffel and Jacobi ate too many chips, Isabel and Maxwell got the data Kepler wanted within half an hour, and they spent the rest of the time playing games like  ‘never have I ever’ and 'would you rather'. 

Even though it was a simple outing, even though nothing went wrong, both Eiffel and Maxwell spent the entire trip so tightly strung that Isabel thought they’d snap at the first sign of trouble.

But nothing happened. They went out, got their data, and were all back on the ship by the end of the solar cycle. 

That’s when Isabel  _ really _ started to notice that something was wrong. 

 

Hera rarely spoke anymore, not unless Isabel was in the room. She caught Eiffel talking to Kepler in private more than once; Hilbert and Minkowski and Maxwell hovering over papers, their heads so close they might as while be touching.

Almost all of them had stopped eating during the scheduled meal times. Stopped eating at all.

Between avoiding  _ Ren- _ Minkowski and everyone else, she found herself spending more and more time with Jacobi of all people. One evening she found herself telling him about what happened between her and Minkowski, and he grabbed a bottle of Kepler’s stupidly expensive whiskey for them to down. They both had horrible hangovers the next day- Isabel slept  _ through _ her work detail- but no one seemed to notice.

So when she woke up and found that now Jacobi wasn't waiting for her in the caf with coffee and an increasingly worried report on the others...Isabel was worried.

“Hera?” she asked, but the AI didn’t respond. “Hera, are you there?” The resounding silence scared her more than anything, more that Eiffel being shot into space in her shuttle, more than finding out that the Hephaestus was falling to pieces, more than Kepler’s threats, more than Mace and Sam and Kuan and Victoire’s deaths. 

She returned to her bunk, pulling the gun she shouldn’t have been able to sneak away from the armoury out and strapped the holster to her leg. She was going to figure out what was going on one way or another.

What she found instead was an empty station.

“...right. Right, okay. The Urania, I’ll check there,” she said, swallowing, her throat dry. Had someone activated the box- the one Sam had turned on, there was bound to be another for Minkowski and hers- had Eiffel found it and they all entered? She hadn’t lost time then, but who was to say that Goddard,  _ Cutter _ , hadn’t changed things?

Something about the creaking, shifting metal of the ship changes from a familiar sound, an almost comfort, to something foreboding and dark. 

 

“Something’s rotten in the state of Denmark,” Isabel muttered as she crossed the threshold between the Urania and the Hephaestus, a dark chill making it’s way down her spine. “Hello?”

“Fuck off!” Jacobi shouted, and Isabel jolted, then frowned. It hadn’t sounded like he was shouting at her… she pushed off against the wall, moving as fast as she could, following the sounds of Jacobi cursing and fighting with someone.

Isabel was outside the med bay when Jacobi went suddenly, horribly silent, and she shoved open the door without bothering to knock.

Not that knocking would have helped her any. 

Jacobi was floating, prone, in the middle of the room. All around him were the others, Minkowski, Eiffel, Hilbert, Maxwell, Kepler, and they all looked up at her.

“Hello, Captain,” Hilbert and Kepler said at the same time, in the same voice, and Isabel felt her fingers twitch towards her gun.

“What are you doing here?” Maxwell and Renée asked.

“Looking for you guys,” Isabel replied, trying to keep her voice from shaking. “Hera isn’t working.”

“She is working how she is meant to work,”  _ Jacobi _ said, pulling himself up, his eyes- all of their eyes- locked to her face.

“What are you?” she asked, deciding it wasn’t worth pretending to be ignorant. “What did you do to him? To  _ everyone _ ?”

“You know what we are,” Everyone replied in one voice that came from none of them and all of them at once. “You can not stop us now.”

“Oh, fuck that-” Isabel drew the pistol and took aim, firing three quick shots into Kepler’s chest before any of them could do anything funny. The thing wearing his face just smiled at her, tilting it’s head to the side.

“Careful,” the voice echoed. “You could hurt someone with that.”

A hand grabbed her elbow, and Isabel started, turning to see Hilbert on one side of her and Maxwell on the other. She hadn't seen then move. “What-”

“Don’t worry,” Minkowski said, reaching out to grab her face. “This won’t hurt a bit.”

* * *

 

Isabel woke with a start, arms flailing as she swore, trying to get her bearings.

“Jesus, calm down,” a familiar voice said, and Isabel spun. “Hey, I said calm down! Your ears do work, don’t they?”

“Fuck you, Jacobi,” she replied, wincing at how rough her voice sounded. “What happened? I was- did something happen?”

Jacobi was perched on one of the chairs in the Urania’s bridge watching her, and he sighed. “You could say so. What do you remember?”

“Uh...you were yelling, everyone was in the med bay, I think I shot Kepler.” The last part she muttered, in case Jacobi decided he wanted revenge. “ _ Re _ \- Minkowski kissed me?”

“So...basically nothing then. Cool. What’s the best way to do this?” He pushed away from the console and pulled her up to join him, talking to some who obviously wasn't Isabel.

“Explain,” came a very familiar voice from the radio. “She needs to know what she is and what’s happening.”

“You’re one of the Listeners,” Isabel said, and Jacobi snorted. 

“Well, he sure isn’t a talking goose, that’s for sure. And guess what, he isn’t the only one.” Isabel watched as Jacobi did a little half bow and motioned to the pair of them. “Congratulations, you’re an alien. So am I.”

“What.”

Jacobi sighed. “Okay, so here’s what happened-”

“The others are no longer human,” the Listener on the radio interrupted, and Isabel closed her eyes. If she kept them closed, she could pretend that it was Eiffel talking to her and this was all some long-con joke. “They were consumed by a Parasite, one that eats worlds and beings and galaxies and is never full.”

“The Empty-” she started to say, before screeching as Jacobi barreled into her, slapping his hand over her mouth.

“ _ Don’t say those words, _ ” he hissed, panicked. “That is how they infect people, realities. They don’t exist until you speak them into life.”

“They are already here,” the one on the other end of the radio said with none of Eiffel’s personality. “Speaking of them will do nothing more.”

“Still!” He grunted as Isabel pushed him away, glaring. “When you escaped the Hephaestus in your shuttled, you died. Captain Isabel Lovelace, human, died in the star. You’re Captain Isabel Lovelace, alien. Like how I’m Daniel Jacobi, but not human.”

Isabel’s head spun, but at the same time, she could tell that he wasn’t lying- neither of them were. “So..what am I?”

“Kepler had some recordings about another ship who encountered the aliens,” Jacobi said. “People caught in the radiation of the star were copied, I guess, and then sent back.”

“To observe,” Alien-Eiffel added. “To decide if your planet, your species, is worth communicating with.”

“Well, you must have thought so, considering you kept calling us,” Isabel snapped. “What happened to the others?”

“They were pushed back to the Hephaestus. Hera wasn’t integrated to the Urania, and I was able to create a block to keep her and Maxwell from sneaking in,” Jacobi explained, tired. “You took off Kepler’s hand when you were out.”

“When I was out?”

“Yeah. The...part of you that’s connected to the hivemind took over to keep you safe. I showed up right as things started and...The last thing I remember is the shuttle out to the star, putting the sensors on the outside.” Isabel looked at Jacobi, really looked, and paused. He was hunched over, had tear tracks on his face, and was holding onto something tightly. “At least you have time to ask questions, I had everything funneled into my head in seconds.”

Isabel was quiet for a minute, then moved to the console, beside Jacobi. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine! Never been better,” he replied, miserable sounding. “Just had to fight my- I broke my sister’s neck and it didn’t stop her from trying to kill me. It was only when the star changed again that things seemed to calm down.”

“...I don’t see the family resemblance,” she said, bumping into him, her attempt of a joke falling flat. “Can- is there anyways to get them back? Or versions like us?”

“No.” They both turned to the radio, and Isabel groaned. “Those consumed by the Parasite are erased completely, and of the crew, we only had enough information to recreate the pair of you.”

“What about you?” Jacobi asked.

“Our scan of Douglas Eiffel was interrupted. We have his look and his voice and his vocabulary, but not much else.”

“Lucky you,” she muttered. “What are we supposed to do now?”

“Survive and protect. They can not have Earth.”

* * *

 

“Mr. Cutter? There’s an urgent report from the Hermes- you should see this, Sir.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So in my original plan it was just going to be Isabel on the Urania, but the lure of the Lovelace & Jacobi show was just too strong to resist
> 
> * * *
> 
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